Raiders owner Mark Davis has a chance to do what he should have done two years ago: Hire the interim coach who has his team playing with heart.
The Raiders didn’t hire interim coach Rich Bisaccia as the full-time coach after the 2021 season, instead choosing Josh McDaniels. It’s same time, two years, with interim coach Antonio Pierce having done enough to earn the job this offseason.
Las Vegas is 4-3 with Pierce after going 3-5 with McDaniels, and it remains in playoff contention.
Pierce wants the job and feels he’s earned the job.
“My resume is on the grass. What do you want?” Pierce said, via Tyler Dragon of USA Today. “I can put up a fancy presentation. I’ve seen that before. I can put up stats. I can put up my resume. But the best thing that happened for me was an opportunity. I said this maybe last week, the worst day I was going to be as a head coach was my first day. And each day is my job, and I really take pride in growing each and every day to get better. No different than when I was a player to get better.
“By the end, you look at it, whatever your career was and whatever my coaching career is, and you sit there and say, ‘Look, this is what he was.’ And hopefully Mark Davis sees improvement and growth within our team. He sees the style and play that he wants from the Raiders. He sees a fan base that’s behind us. He sees a building that loves coming to work and loves being here. And people that’s covering the team, enjoying covering the team. And at the end of the day, we’ve got to win. And right now, my record, our record is 4-3.”
The Raiders demolished the Chargers and upset the Chiefs the past two weeks, and with games against the Colts and Broncos to end the regular season, Pierce gets a chance to finish his audition leaving no doubt in Davis’ mind.